A portal device may receive and/or transmit information via a wireless network, for example a wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or a wireless wide area network (WAN), and/or via a wired network, for example a wired local area network (LAN), viand/or a wired WAN. Within the portal device, a wireless network interface subsystem, for example a WLAN network interface card (NIC), may enable the portal device to be communicatively coupled to a wireless network, while a wired network interface subsystem, for example a LAN NIC or a WAN NIC, may enable the portal device to be communicatively coupled to a wired network. The wireless network interface subsystem may receive and/or transmit wireless network frames, for example WLAN frames, from and/or to a wireless network. The wired network interface subsystem may receive and/or transmit wired network frames, for example LAN frames, from and/or to a wired network. The wireless network frame may comprise a service data unit (SDU) and a wireless network header, for example an IEEE 802.11 header. The SDU may comprise information being communicated, via one or more networks, between a source terminal device and a destination terminal device. Personal computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and WLAN stations are exemplary terminal devices, which may be communicatively coupled via one or more networks. The wired network frame may comprise an SDU and a wired network header, for example an IEEE 802.3 header. The portal may enable reception of a wireless network frame via a wireless network with subsequent transmission of a corresponding wired network frame via a wired network. The portal may also enable reception of a wired network frame via a wired network with subsequent transmission of a corresponding wireless network frame via a wireless network. When the wired network and the wireless network are logically associated with a common network, the transfer of frames between the wired network and wireless network may be referred to as bridging. When the wired network and the wireless network are logically associated with different networks, the transfer of frames between the wired network and the wireless network may be referred to as routing. Bridging and/or routing may comprise functionality that enables contents within a wired network header and/or SDU to be converted to form contents for a corresponding wireless network header and/or SDU. The conversion may be referred to as transcoding. Similarly, bridging and/or routing may comprise functionality that enables a wireless network header and/or SDU to be transcoded to form a corresponding wired network header and/or SDU.
In some conventional portal devices, a host processor may perform a bridging and/or routing function. The host processor may enable execution of a routing protocol, for example open shortest path first (OSPF), and/or a bridging protocol, for example a spanning tree algorithm, to determine a network interface subsystem, which is to be utilized for transmitting at least a portion of a received frame via a corresponding network. The host processor may retrieve a header portion of a received wireless network frame from a wireless network interface subsystem. The host processor may determine that at least a portion of the received wireless network frame is to be transmitted via a wired network interface subsystem. The host processor may transcode the wireless network header and/or SDU to form a corresponding wired network header and/or SDU. The host processor may then instruct the wireless network interface subsystem to transfer the transcoded frame, comprising at least a portion of the SDU from the received wireless network frame and the corresponding wired network header, to the wired network interface subsystem. The wired network interface subsystem may subsequently transmit the transcoded frame via a wired network. Similarly, the host processor may retrieve a header portion of a received wired network frame from a wired network interface subsystem. The host processor may determine that at least a portion of the received wired network frame is to be transmitted via a wireless network interface subsystem. The host processor may transcode the wired network header and/or SDU to form a corresponding wireless network header and/or SDU. The host processor may then instruct the wired network interface subsystem to transfer the transcoded frame, comprising at least a portion of the SDU from the received wired network frame and the corresponding wireless network header, to the wireless network interface subsystem. The wireless network interface subsystem may subsequently transmit the transcoded frame via a wireless network. One limitation for this approach is that the wireless network interface subsystem may be required to buffer one or more received wireless network frames while the host processor makes bridging and/or routing determinations for a current received wireless network frame, and transcodes the associated wireless network header based on the bridging and/or routing determinations.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.